Riviera: A Camping Success
by Lev Bellap
Summary: Several months after the events with Seth-Rah, our heroes are having a hard time readjusting to a normal life. Fia decides to arrange a camping trip, hoping it would speed things up. However, she could not possibly expect what would happen next...


_**Riviera: **_**The Promised Land**

**A Camping Success**

_**After the events with Seth-rah, our heroes had a hard time trying to readjust back to the normal life. As Rose had said, it was all still so surreal. Fia decided that they should go camp out in the forest near Elendia.**_

**UPDATE**_** with major and minor revisions. Thanks to Mystic Cake for reviewing and suggestions. ;)**_

**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Sting or Riviera...Unfortunately.**_

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"SQUIRREL!" Lina screamed happily. "Look, Fia!" She pointed towards a nearby tree while jumping up and down excitedly like a kid.

"Yes, Lina." Fia said. She was busy pitching her own tent. "This part of the forest is said to have lots of squirrels." However, Lina wasn't listening. She was busy climbing up a tree, singing "Lalalalala..." A squirrel perched on top looked down at her curiously.

*sweat drops* "Uh, Lina, be careful!" Fia shouted. Her advice was ignored, and the girl continued climbing and singing. _But then again_, she thought, _what did she expect from a girl like Lina?_

"What's going on over here?" said a voice from behind her.

"Hey Serene." she said. "Oh, the usual. Lina's all giddy over a squirrel."

"Typical Lina." The Arc said, carrying a bag over her shoulder. "Here's the firewood you asked for." She dropped down the bag in front of Fia. "Freshly cut from my scythe over here. Pretty useful, huh?" she held up the huge scythe, to Fia's discontent. Fia had insisted that this was to be a normal camping trip, without any weapons or fighting. Serene argued that there might be demons, though Fia wasn't sure that she meant that for protection or for fun.

"Thanks, Serene. Just toss it over there at the middle." Fia said and went back to work on the tent.

"Oh, alright then." Serene said. _Hmm...let's have some fun while we're at it,_ she thought. She grabbed the bag and swung around with it before releasing it blindly towards the middle. The heavy bag missed the intended clear area entirely and ended up crashing on a tent, which toppled over from the force and created a domino effect toppling the other tents.

"Oh...whoopsies. My bad...Should've aimed more properly." Serene said while scratching her head.

Fia gasped. "I didn't mean you should actually toss them! Do you have any idea how long it took me to set those up?!" She went over to the jumbled up tents and began to pick apart the mess. _How am I going to fix all of this before Ein comes back? s_he thought grimly.

"Maybe I could help you with tha-" Serene started to say while moving towards her, before she tripped and fell on the tent Fia was working on. Once the dust cleared, Fia only saw the debris before a hand popped up."

"Ugh...a little help please?" Serene's somewhat muffled voice said.

Fia contemplated just leaving Serene there so she couldn't cause any more unintended problems, but a scream broke her thoughts. A second later Lina came crashing down the bottom of a tree, leaves and small branches sticking everywhere on her clothes, including her ponytail. Another second later and a squirrel landed on her back, which elicited a grunt from Lina.

"Ouchies...that hurts! Lina hates falling!" Lina slowly sat up and looked around as if confused.

This was what happened. Lina, who was now near the top of a tall tree, was busy trying to befriend the squirrel perched on top. "Come on now, Mr. Squirrel. Lina's not gonna hurt ya." She reached up with her left hand, trying to let the squirrel jump on it. Suddenly, she heard a crack. The branch supporting her weight snapped in half, before giving way completely. "AAAGGGHH!" Lina screamed as she fell through the branches and leaves. On the last second, she grabbed hold of a branch, which bended but didn't break. The squirrel climbed down from the top and landed in front of Lina's hand. "Phew...close one wasn't it, Mr. Squirrel?" Lina said before looking down. There was still a ways to go before the bottom. The squirrel looked at her and tilted its head. A snap was heard, and the two looked at the branch. There was just enough time for Lina to say "Not again!" before it broke and sent the two hurdling down the tree.

Fia looked at Lina, then at Serene's hand sticking out of the broken tent. _What am I gonna do with these two? _She sighed._ I hope Ein's having more success than us._

Meanwhile, deep in the forest...

"Look Rose...another rock!" Ein pointed happily towards the said item.

"Not again. Haven't you had enough rocks for today?" Rose said grudgingly. When Cierra's perfume turned her into a human, she knew walking on two legs would be awkward. But they had been wandering around for nearly an hour now, looking for Applecots for dinner, and her feet were killing her.

"You can never had enough rocks!" Ein said cheerfully.

_Rock Acquired. _

Rose sighed. "Come on, we should get back to the others. We're pretty far off already."

"Alright," Ein said. "I wonder if there are mor-" He was cut off by the sound of an explosion. He turned and saw smoke coming from the camp.

He and Rose both looked at each other and then broke out in a run towards the camp.

Upon arriving on the camp, they were met with a chaotic scene. Lina was running around with a bucket of water; chasing a squirrel whose tail was on fire. Fia was busy trying to put out what looked like already demolished tents that were on fire. Serene was flying back and forth a nearby river filling buckets. In the center of the mayhem was Cierra. The Scarlet Witch was waving her staff, crying "O_h dear_"; desperately trying to control the flames, only to strengthen them instead.

Ein and Rose both sweat dropped as they looked at the four. They looked at each other and nodded. Ein ran towards Serene, grabbing a bucket, while Rose hurried over to Fia to help put out the rest of the flames. After several minutes, the group had managed to kill all of the fire, but their tents, sleeping bags and supplies were all burnt to a crisp.

"Okay." Ein said, wiping sweat off his forehead. "I want to know exactly what happened. Cierra?"

Rose, Fia, and Serene also glared at her. Meanwhile, Lina, hugging a now tail-charred squirrel, was rummaging through her backpack for some ointment.

Cierra looked down guiltily. "Well, er, I was busy looking for plants and stuff for my magic studies, when I returned to the camp. Fia and Serene were busy trying to fix some jumbled up tents, and I thought I could help..." She looked down apologetically.

"You exploded the camp!" Fia screamed angrily. "Now look at what you've done! All our things are ruined. This trip...all my plans...They're all ruined now!" Fia said bitterly, starting to cry. "I...I wanted this trip to help you guys just relax...But...this all turned out to be a big disaster!" She was sobbing now with her hands on her face.

The rest of the group looked at each other uncomfortably until finally, Ein went over to her.

"There, there..." He said while hugging her. "This trip wasn't a failure at all."

Fia, surprised at the hug, sniffed and looked up. "Really?"

"Yeah, look at this!" He rummaged through his bag, and held up three ugly rocks.

"Look at these gems! I never would have found them if we hadn't gone here!" he said cheerfully.

Fia and everyone else sweat dropped.

"Yeah, and those tents were broken anyway." Serene added in. Fia gave her a straight face.

"I guess we could probably get new things from Elendia before nightfall." Cierra added optimistically.

"Yeah!" Lina chimed in. "I never would have made friends with Mr. Squirrel here!" She hugged the squirrel even tighter.

"Uh, Lina, I think Mr. Squirrel is about to suffocate." Serene said.

"Guys!" Rose shouted towards them. "I think I found something." She was looking down at the center of the camp. There was a large crater between three tents, where Cierra's magic was most concentrated in. In the bottom was what appeared to be the top left corner of a chest.

"It might be treasure!" Lina cheered.

"Or new weapons!" Serene added.

"Or a new fire spell book," Cierra said happily, which made everyone glare at her. "Oh right...er, treasure or weapons are good too."

Rose communicated with Ein using their telepathy. _Wow, she sure is a klutz. How do you put up with her?_

_Yeah she is_, Ein thought back. _B__ut we got used to it. Check out these fire-retardant underwear!_

_Um...how about NO. _

_Hmph, your loss._

Meanwhile, Lina and Serene were busy digging up the chest. When they were done, Ein and Fia helped them haul it up.

"I wanna try opening it!" Rose said.

"Careful, Rose, there might be a trap." Ein said.

"Oh puhleeaase!" Rose said. "You'd think I'd forget a thing we've done countless of times before? Plus, I was the one who told you about them in the first place!"

"Just saying...wouldn't want us to get frozen in place in the middle of the forest." Ein said. "I wonder why there's a random chest buried out here."

Fia answered. "Oh, they say that before, Elendia wasn't the peaceful village it is now. There was distrust among the people, even to the point that they would bury their valuables out here away from their neighbors. I guess the old owners forgot about this one."

Rose walked up to the chest and grabbed hold of the clips locking it. She flicked them and threw open the top, looking inside for the mechanism to disarm it.

However, there was no trap.

"Whoa!" She gasped "...Check it out!"

"Is it a new sword?" Ein asked.

"Is it a new rapier?" Fia asked.

"Is it a new scythe?" Serene asked.

"Is it a new staff?" Cierra asked.

"I hope its some medicine for Mr. Squirrel!" Lina said. "He looks blue."

"That's 'cuz you're holding it too tight again." Serene said.

"...Well? What is it, Rose?" Ein said.

"It's even better than all those!" Rose cheered. "Look!"

She joyfully held something up so they can see. When they realized what it was, they all face faulted.

It was just some rope, coiled up into a ball. Rose started to play with it like a cat.

"Uh, Rose, aren't you a bit too, oh I don't know...human, to play with that?"

"Nope!" she said gleefully, pouncing on it.

Laughter from all...

Later...

"Okay, you guys ready?" Cierra shouted.

"Yup!" answered several voices from behind a nearby boulder. Lina, Serene and Fia were hiding behind, as Cierra was in charge of lighting the new batch of firewood.

"I'll show you the power of magic!" she shouted. "Calamity Flare!"

The night sky lit up as a giant fireball flew into the sky.

When the fire died down, she smiled and said, "All done!"

The hiding went out from behind the boulder, whose front-face was now charred black.

"That's great, Cierra." Fia said. "But, um...what are we gonna eat? All the food we prepared was burned down."

"How about Mr. Squirrel over here?" Serene said jokingly, causing Lina to grab and hug the squirrel perched on her shoulder. She sticked her tongue out towards Serene.

"Maybe we could find a dragon!" Cierra said. "Dragon Meat is very nutritious, you know? Lots of protein to help keep up your strength."

"As long as I get to fight it, sure." Serene said.

"Don't worry, I think there are some Applecots and Banangos lying around here." Lina said.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" Ein appeared with a big bag. He had left the camp to go back to Elendia to get new sleeping bags and supplies. "I had Chappi make us new ready-to-use tents, and look what Coco found hidden in the cupboard!" He held up a jar full of white, puffy objects.

"What are those?" Rose said curiously.

"My marshmallows!" Lina cried, running towards them."I've been looking for these ever since Fia hid them!"

"Hey!" Fia said. "I hid those since you were eating too many sweets!"

"Well, you were eating a lot more than me before Ein showed up," Lina objected.

Fia blushed, and after a short awkward silence, Cierra spoke up.

"We should probably roast those. I could probably start a roasting spell that will-"

"NO!," they all shouted.

In the end, they decided to stick them in the ends of sticks, or, in Serene and Ein's case, her scythe and Einherjar. They sat around the bonfire.

All were silent, roasting their marshmallows over the flame, until Fia suddenly started singing slowly:

___"_Deep in the forests of Elendia,

_Six of the greatest lay..._

_One who can wield a Disaresta,_

_which could any demon slay...__"_

Looking at Lina, Cierra added:

___"_There was one who had a squirrelly friend,

_and simply wanted to play...__"_

Serene, looking at Cierra:

___"_And one who had the power of fire,

_much to everyone's dismay.__"_

Everyone chuckled at this. Ein joined in too, the tone getting livelier.

___"_There was one who was good with a giant scythe,

_No one could beat her, they say.__"_

Lina, at Fia:

___"_And one who always had a caring heart,

_Who knew when to stop and pray."_

___"_..."_  
_

They all looked at Rose, since it was her turn, but she was busy untangling herself from the rope.

Noticing them all looking at her, she said with a smile:

"Uh...Meow?"

Everyone laughed, and the night was soon filled with joyous shouts and laughter from jokes and storytelling. For Fia, the camping trip was much better than she could ever have hoped for, and the stars twinkled over that night sky better than it ever did in all of Elendia.

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**R&R if you wish. Thanks. ;)**


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